GREAT BARRINGTON — For the Berkshire Bach Society’s second “Organ Masters” program, early-music expert Peter Sykes will perform a program of masterworks by Bach, Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Reger at First Congregational Church, Saturday, April 23, at 4 p.m.
Millennia before Jimi Hendrix or Pete Townshend shook the planet’s foundations with their Fender Stratocaster guitars and Marshall amplifiers, musicians of all stripes wanted a lot more decibels than they were getting out of their instruments. And they wouldn’t be satisfied until performance venues literally rumbled. But there were no musical instruments capable of shaking buildings until large pipe organs came along sometime around the 13th century.
Today, no musical instrument elicits a more visceral thrill than the “King of Instruments.” Even arena-rock bands struggle to equal it.
Of 34 extant organs built by Hilborne L. Roosevelt (1849-1886), the one he made in 1883 for Great Barrington’s First Congregational Church is the largest. In its day considered the finest organ in America, the instrument has 73 ranks, 3 manuals, and 60 stops, with gilded pipes towering above the church’s sanctuary like glittering spires in the land of Oz. The organ’s sound is largely the same as it was in 1883, owing to a lack of funds over the years to “modernize” the instrument according to the latest fashions in musical style.
Sykes will begin the program with J.S. Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 546. Mendelssohn’s Sonata, Op. 65, No. 3 follows, with Brahms’ Eleven Chorale Preludes, Op. 122 coming just before the show-stopping Introduction and Passacaglia in D minor by Max Reger.
The Berkshire Bach Society describes Saturday’s program thus: “Sykes has chosen a program that takes advantage of the full range of stops and effects to create a complex and thrilling musical experience.”
Then they give away their true intentions: “Bach was known to try out new and refurbished organs by letting out all the stops to see what kind of ‘lungs’ they had — much to the trepidation of the builders who were present.”
I’m not sure why an organ builder would fear the consequences of letting out all the stops, but the Society goes on to say, “Don’t miss the opportunity to experience this unique historic instrument and feel its power to truly shake the rafters.”
And here are a few special tips for listeners from Berkshire Bach Society Interim Executive Director Terrill McDade: “It’s the pedal that gives the reverberating power to the music. Both the Reger and the Bach Prelude use the pedal to big effect.
“After the concert some lucky people will have the opportunity to tour the organ loft, and see the console that the organist plays. We can’t climb the ladders, but we can see where the organist sits and creates that magnificent sound.”
First Congregational Church is located at 251 Main Street, directly across the road from Yellow House Books.
Peter Sykes is principal instructor of harpsichord at The Juilliard School in New York City and Associate Professor of Music and Chair of the Historical Performance Department at Boston University.
